MotoGP Japan: Takahashi top wildcard at Motegi for Honda

Japan's Takumi Takahashi was the fastest of the three wildcard riders at Motegi as he made his MotoGP debut for Team HRC Nissin on a Honda RC213V.

Takahashi lapped in 1m 46.650s as he finished FP2 in 18th place ahead of Eugene Laverty on the Open class Aspar Honda after setting the 15th quickest time in FP1.

It was Takahashi's fastest ever lap at Motegi but the wildcard entrant is focused on closing the deficit to the leading riders after finishing 1.9 seconds off the top time established by Jorge Lorenzo on the Movistar Yamaha.

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"I am very happy to be here racing with Team HRC Nissin," said Takahashi.

"Today was a positive day and I was able to do my best ever time around Motegi by almost half a second and using the harder tyre, however, the gap to the front riders is still too big. We will work hard tomorrow to reduce this gap as much as we can."

Katsuyuki Nakasuga was 23rd fastest on the factory Yamaha YZR-M1, which he is riding in the company's retro yellow, white and black livery to mark its 60th anniversary.

Honda development rider Kousuke Akiyoshi, who is standing in as replacement for the injured Karel Abraham, was 27th on the AB Motoracing Honda.